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Holocaust survivor will get settlement from Swiss bank

May 4, 1998
Web posted at: 3:50 p.m. EDT (1950 GMT)

NEW YORK (CNN) -- A Swiss bank has agreed to settle a claim by a Holocaust survivor who was unable after World War II to retrieve money left to her by her father, her attorney said Monday.

Attorney Edward Fagan, who said the terms don't permit disclosure of the amount to be paid out, said the agreement with Credit Suisse was "a historical settlement" because it marked the first time a bank from Switzerland had agreed to pay off such a wartime claim.

The settlement was to be formally announced at a news conference in New York later on Monday.

Estelle Sapir, 71, will receive a settlement from Credit Suisse, one of the three largest Swiss banks being sued by Holocaust survivors in several Class-action lawsuits.

Sapir will receive a check from Robert O'Brien, chief operating officer for Credit Suisse in America.

A spokesman for Credit Suisse said Sapir's case represented a "unique circumstance" and he confirmed that the agreement was the first settlement of its kind for the bank.

Sapir's family fled to France from Poland after the Nazis invaded her country at the start of the war. However, her father, Jay Sapir, was captured in March 1943 and sent to the Maidanek death camp in Poland where he died. He was a wealthy banker who may have left millions of dollars.

Estelle Sapir, who was a teen-ager at the time, her brother and mother joined the French resistance and survived the war. She later came to the United States and now lives in Queens, New York.

In 1946, Sapir tried to withdraw the money from Credit Suisse, but the bank refused a payout, demanding a death certificate for her father.

"Who do you want me to get the death certificate from, Himmler, Hitler?" she asked in frustration, referring to the architects of Nazi Germany's extermination program.

Sapir had handwritten notes from her father about deposits at Credit Suisse, but no death certificate. Her later attempts to withdraw the money were also rejected.

Sapir, who is in failing health, was one of the original plaintiffs in the class-action lawsuit filed in New York. That case is still pending, but Sapir will now remove herself as a plaintiff.

Sapir's settlement is unusual because her name never appeared on a list of thousands of World War II-era dormant bank accounts still held by Swiss banks.

So far, 6,741 claims from survivors on dormant accounts have been submitted by Holocaust survivors to the Swiss banks. Of those, 1,741 passed the initial screening and were submitted to the claims resolution tribunal established by the Swiss Bankers Association and the World Jewish Congress.

A total of 300 of the claims were recommended for Fast-track approval and have led to payouts of $1.3 million.

Jewish groups claim Swiss banks hold $7 billion in assets and interest belonging to Jews. The Swiss banks say the amount is smaller, perhaps $32 million in unclaimed assets that could have belonged to European Jews or other non-Swiss residents during the war.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Related stories:

• Solidarity lacking as conference on Nazi gold ends - December 4, 1997
• World War II allies attacked at Nazi gold conference - December 3, 1997
• Swiss fund starts paying Holocaust victims - November 18, 1997
• Swiss banks publicize more dormant Nazi-era accounts - October 29, 1997
• California asked to lift sanctions on Swiss banks - October 24, 1997
• Swiss banks publish dormant WWII-era accounts - July 23, 1997
• Vatican drawn into scandal over Nazi-era gold - July 22, 1997

Related sites:

• Foreign and Commonwealth Office British Government
• Swiss banks dormant accounts site
• Simon Wiesenthal Center
• The ITA Pressroom/U.S. Efforts to Seek Justice for Victims of the Holocaust - from the Office of Media Affairs, International Trade Administration, U.S. Department of Commerce

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